title: Epilepsy and vaccinations: Italian guidelines.
abstract: Reports of childhood epilepsies in temporal association with vaccination have had a great impact on the acceptance of vaccination programs by health care providers, but little is known about this possible temporal association and about the types of seizures following vaccinations. For these reasons the Italian League Against Epilepsy (LICE), in collaboration with other Italian scientific societies, has decided to generate Guidelines on Vaccinations and Epilepsy. The aim of Guidelines on Vaccinations and Epilepsy is to present recent unequivocal evidence from published reports on the possible relationship between vaccines and epilepsy in order to provide information about contraindications and risks of vaccinations in patients with epilepsy. The following main issues have been addressed: (1) whether contraindications to vaccinations exist in patients with febrile convulsions, epilepsy, and/or epileptic encephalopathies; and (2) whether any vaccinations can cause febrile seizures, epilepsy, and/or epileptic encephalopathies. Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccination and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination (MMR) increase significantly the risk of febrile seizures. Recent observations and data about the relationships between vaccination and epileptic encephalopathy show that some cases of apparent vaccine-induced encephalopathy could in fact be caused by an inherent genetic defect with no causal relationship with vaccination.
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Unit, Child Neuropsychiatry Department, University Hospital, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pruna
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Balestri
authors.forename: Nelia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zamponi
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grosso
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gobbi
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Romeo
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Franzoni
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osti
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Capovilla
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Longhi
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verrotti
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000592:standards; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D022542:Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine / Q000009:adverse effects; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D014611:Vaccination / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D022542:Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine
keywords: Epilepsy; Epileptic encephalopathy; Febrile seizures; Guidelines; Italian League Against Epilepsy; Vaccination